Augustine of Canterbury

Augustine of Canterburywho was born in Italy in the sixth century but he died at Canterbury in England around 605. A was what they called a prior from the Roman monastery of St. Andrew. He was sent by Gregory the Great of Rome to preach an official gospel of the Roman Church with some 30 monks. He studied under Felix, bishop of Messana in Sicily and there was some danger in this mission because Gregory the Great was not recognized by every Christian as the head of the Church.

Christianity and the gospel of Christ had already been preached in Britain and Northern Ireland. Irish Monasteries had been sending missionaries as far away as Iceland and the America two hundred years before. When Augustine arrived in England the after being ordained a Roman bishop somewhere in Gaul he began to preach his gospel at Thanet in Kent with the permission of King Ethelbert and has been accredited as the founder of the metropolitan see of Canterbury.